MiddleBit: Farm Progress Show set to take place August 28-30

The 65th Farm Progress Show is set to take place back in Boone, Iowa this week.

This is the sixth time the Farm Progress Show will be held in Boone. The show will begin Tuesday morning and run until Thursday afternoon.

The three-day event will have 80 acres full of 600 exhibitors, offering those who attend displays and demonstrations by top agribusinesses not only from across the United States and abroad, showcasing the latest updates in agtech.

Iowa Agritech Accelerator

The Iowa AgriTech Accelerator will be at the Farm Progress Show in booth 1120. This will be the Agritech Accelerator’s first appearance at the Farm Progress show, giving startups that have participated in the accelerator the chance to show off their products and attendees to a chance to witness the inner makings of an accelerator program.

The accelerator’s booth will include startups from this year’s class as well as startups from the 2017 class. Startups on-site will include:

What else is happening?

Indiana

10 startups a year who are refining marketing plans for sports-related tech ideas will get three-month residencies at a new Techstars accelerator in Indianapolis. At the end, they’ll have a pitch meeting with larger companies and venture capitalists. Indiana Sports Corp president Ryan Vaughn says the products could cover any aspect of sports, from event management to wearable tech like the Fitbit. –WIBC

Missouri

Kansas City based Athlete Network, a provider of athlete services technology for intercollegiate, professional and Olympic athletics, recently announced a collaborative partnership with Kansas State University, Arkansas State University, and Lindenwood University Athletic Departments. Leaders from each athletic department joined Athlete Network to develop the game-changing software, with the goal of enhancing the student-athlete experience and increasing the engagement of alumni athletes. –Silicon Prairie News

Ohio

The Midwest can now call itself home to another member of the unicorn club. Columbus, Ohio car insurance startup Root Insurance announced today that it has raised a $100 million series D round. That’s a larger-than-usual raise for many Midwestern startups, but today’s raise was made even more notable by the fact that it now values the company at $1 billion. –VentureBeat